Traditionally, Christmas is the time to tell spooky tales, so here are some spooky recommendations from the English Department
Tunnel of Bones - VE Schwab
The novel is about a girl who almost drowns, and the ghost who saves her life, and the ways in which they're tangled up. It's about their friendship, but also about the places her family goes, her parents' jobs exploring history and hauntings around the world. It is a story about friendships that reach across the line between life and death.
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think--she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister spectre who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price.
Lockwood and Co - Jonathan Stroud
For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions.
Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.
Christmas Dinner of Souls - Ross Montgomery
It's a dark and lonely Christmas Eve in the dining room of ancient Soul's College. The kitchen boy, 11-year-old Lewis, has helped prepare a highly unusual meal, made with unrecognisable ingredients, cooked by a mysterious chef. And then the guests arrive ... and carnage ensues. They are ex-students of Soul's College, and they are all completely demented. They demand bottle after bottle of wine, flinging their cutlery and howling like banshees until ... silence. The Dean of Soul's College has arrived, and the evening's ceremonies must begin.
For this is the annual meeting of a secret club for those who despise children, warmth, happiness, and above all Christmas. Each member must try to outdo the others by telling the most terrible, disgusting story they know.
A spooky, shocking, bloodthirsty alternative to festive cheer that will appeal to, fascinate and delight young readers.